Run
by cloclomockingjay
Summary: When Claire is made a vampire her fear of how her friends will react gets too much for her and she flees Morganville. But what will the consequences of a scared hungry new vampire running free be? And what will her friends do to get her back?
1. Chapter 1

**This of course belongs to rachel caine but enjoy and please review, thanks**

Claire's POV

My eyes flickered open to see Myrnin staring down at me with a mixed expression of guilt and curiosity. When I looked round I realised I was laid on the floor in the lab and I felt weird. But why? I couldn't remember what had happened before or why I had just woken up where I was.

"Claire I am so sorry, I tried to stop but I just couldn't." Myrnin suddenly whined at me.

"What are you talking abo-"

"I had to save you Claire, I couldn't lose you because of one silly mistake, sorry."

It all came back to me. Myrnin attacking me, the feeling of my life draining from my body until I finally blacked out and the searing pain I felt while I was pressed in the darkness. Oh my god, Myrnin had made me a vampire, I was a vampire. I couldn't process it at first, but as it finally began to sink in the first thing that came to my mind were my friends, Eve, Michael, and my boyfriend Shane. What would they think of me being a vampire? Eve, she would probably accept it, considering she was dating one. It was the boys that were the worry. Michael, he would be so disappointed. Yes he was a vampire himself but I knew the last thing he would want is me, Eve or Shane joining the party. And Shane, he hated vampires full stop and he only just got through Michael becoming one, this would tear him apart. Plus I knew he would hate me.

"Claire? Are you there?" Myrnin pulled me from my state of panic. I just looked at him in disgust. At that moment I truly hated him. He reached down to try and help me up but I batted his hand away.

"Don't touch me! I can't believe you did this to me. What the hell am I going to do?"

"I'm sorry, Claire but I couldn't let you die. I just couldn't!"

"Why the hell not. I can't live like this. I can't go back to my friends they will hate me."

"They won-"

"Yes they will." I was aware of a burning in my throat and I knew that if I wasn't so preoccupied by fear it would have hurt like hell. Myrnin suddenly flashed away from me then back in less than a second, which realised I could see much clearly than before. I could see everything much more clearly. He knelt down to me while holding out a blood bag for me to take.

"Here, you need to drink this." He explained.

I wasn't having any of it as I was too distressed to think clearly. I waved my hand through the air at lightning speed, knocking the blood bag out of Myrnin's hand and sending it flying across the room. It exploded and sprayed its contents all over the wall. The blood that dripped down the wall mesmerised me and I felt myself flash across the room to stand right in front of it. I felt the burning ease slightly as a sniffed the air, it felt better but it was bearable before anyway. Still, I ran a finger down the red liquid before putting it in my mouth. The taste was actually pretty good, felt good too. But then the horror of what I was doing hit me and in shear panic and disgust I ran from the lab as fast as I could and headed for the streets of Morganville. Before I got away I heard Myrnin call. "Claire! Claire! You can't go. You haven't even fed yet. Please let me help you." I thought he would run after me, but he didn't thank god.

I didn't want his help because he couldn't help me, no one could, I was on my own with this. I didn't know what to do though. I couldn't face Eve, Michael or Shane, ever again. I had to get away from here, away from the hate that was coming for me. I had to get away as fast as possible. I stood in the middle of the road thinking deeply, a few pale faces stopped to stare at me as I did. Amelie's pet had joined the night crawlers, bet that shocked them a little. Then it came to me, the barriers. Since Ada had been gone the barriers were down, meaning I could leave Morganville without any trouble. But if I was going to leave I had to leave now, before the sun rises. I had five hours.

It took me just over ten minutes to come up with a full plan on how I was going to do this without getting caught, but even then it wasn't 100% reliable. My plan was to go back to the Glass House, leave a goodbye note for my friends, take Eve's car and drive the hell out of this town.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire's POV

Within three minutes I was already standing outside the Glass House. Both preparing to do the most painful thing possible and listening to see if Michael was awake. He was the last person I wanted to be caught by, at least if it was Eve or Shane or caught me they wouldn't be able to sense what I had become. Luckily for me from what I could tell he was asleep. Silently I unlocked the front door and walked inside, someone had left the living room light on for me and I saw a note on the couch.

_Claire_

_Sorry I didn't stay up and wait for you to get home from work, wasn't feeling too good._

_Could you please just stop by my room before you go to bed so I know you got home safe. I love you._

_Shane_

Reading that note made my heart break and for a second I thought against what I was about to do, that maybe I was making a mistake. Then the image of Shane seeing what I was hit me and I knocked all thoughts out of my head to avoid anymore pain. I had to do this. Again the pain in my throat came to my attention before I forced that out of my head too. I grabbed a piece of paper from the table and began to write my note for my friends.

Once I was finished writing I placed the note where Shanes had been. I was going to see Shane for one last time but I decided that I couldn't bare the pain of a last goodbye. Instead I went to the kitchen and grabbed Eve's car keys which were dumped on the table. When I was at the front door and ready to leave I turned back and took one last look at the house. "Time to go." I sighed. I felt the house respond immediately and you could feel the sadness in it. Then I turned back and left the house, jumped into Eve's car and drove away from my home forever. It didn't take long to get to the Morganville border but it still felt like a lifetime. Once I was there I did feel the weight on my shoulders shift away a little but I also felt tears sting my eyes. I was out, no one would hate me and no one would be hurt, even if I had to pay the price in the end.

Myrnin's POV

"For heavens sake turn on your damn phone!" I screamed at my cellphone as Michael's went to voicemail. His phone must have either been flat or broken, no one left them turned off in this town and I knew he wouldn't normally. Typical in a time of emergency. Claire had run off without feeding in a mess and that's not a good thing when you're a four hour old vampire, not good at all. Who knows what she will do. I would have gone after her myself but I could tell that would have made things worse, the last person she wanted near her was me. I should have done this hours ago when I decide to use the portal to talk to Michael and get him to find Claire before something happens.

Michael's POV

I was woken pretty early in the morning by Myrnin who was shouting the house down. "Michael! Wake up and get down here now. I need your assistant!" God that guy was so pushy sometimes. After getting out of bed and quickly getting dressed I flashed down the stairs to see what that guys problem was. "Finally." Myrnin decided to comment.

"What the hell is the problem Myrnin?"

"Well, the problem is this." He handed me a note that had been laid on the couch. I read it quickly:

_Eve, Michael and Shane_

_The last thing I want is for you to hate me and I also don't want to cause you any pain. So by the time you are reading this I will already have left Morganville. I'm sorry for doing this but I really don't have a choice, there's no going back now. I love you all. Goodbye._

_P.S Eve I will send your car back to you as soon as possible._

_Claire_

"Oh my god she left!" I shouted out in shock."But why? And what the hell was she talking about she didn't want to hurt us and there's no going back?"

"Well that's the thing you see. I- I sort of- had to-" Myrnin looked down at the floor and began to fidget as he spoke. "I had to turn her into a vampire."

"You did what!" I was so angry at what he just said." You turned Claire into a vampire and now she running around terrified outside of town." I couldn't control my anger. He turned Claire and now she was all alone believing that me, Eve and Shane would hate her for it. This was all _his _fault. Without thinking I slammed my fist into Myrnin's face and actually knocked him to the floor. His eyes flashed red, but then he sighed before saying. "I guess I deserved that."

"Why the hell did you turn her Myrnin? How could you be so selfish?"

"I- I lost control and I couldn't let her die."

"You could have gone after her at least."

"She didn't want me near her."

"Oh and I wonder why." I said back with a hint of sarcasm and bitterness.

Shane and Eve must have heard the shouting because in the next moment they were coming down the stairs both sharing the same confused look. "What the hells going on?" They said at the same time. I held out the note to them and told them what Myrnin had told me. Soon the same thing started happening that happened between me and Myrnin except this time it involved me holding Shane back from killing Myrnin's ass and Eve crying.


	3. Chapter 3

Shane's POV

I can't believe what that dick did. He turned my Claire into a god damn vampire, causing her to run away thinking her friends would hate her. I'm not going to lie, yes I'm not a big fan of vampires and no way in hell will I ever be happy about Claire being one but I would never hate her. At the end of the day Claire will always be Claire no matter what and I will always love her. Also yes it will be hard to get used to it and it does upset me but like I said. It's my Claire we are talking about here.

Michael's words brought me back from my train of angry thoughts. "Myrnin did Claire feed before she left?"

Myrnin looked at him with his sad pathetic expression. "No she refused right before she ran away."

"Ugh this just gets better and better doesn't it. You know she will be starving soon right? You know one of these two things will happen while she's out there. Either she will lose control from thirst and attack someone or she will die from starvation." Michael said.

"And if that happens you are dead." I added.

Myrnin looked to me before turning back to Michael. "Yes yes I understand but we can't sit here arguing about it. We need to find Claire now."

I decided to comment again. "We? We! There's no we in this bloodsucker. You caused this whole mess so you're not going to be there to make it any worse."

Myrnin's eyes turned cruel before he replied. "Hmm, you call me bloodsucker so have you forgotten who recently joined that status?"

This was when Eve's anger boiled over and she stopped crying to scream at us all. "Hey! Fangs or no fangs Claire will _never_ be just a bloodsucker, she will always be our Claire no matter what. So I suggest you think of a way to get her back before something bad happens to her or I swear to god I will be the one dancing on your grave, got that." Yeah Eve got scary when she got mad, we all just nodded, even Myrnin.

"I need to fill Amelie in on what has happened, she can tell us what to do." Myrnin pulled out his phone and walked away. For the next fifteen minutes we just had to sit and wait until Amelie gave us orders. That's when Oliver appeared through the portal as Myrnin walked back in the room. Well the good times just keep on coming don't they?

Michael's POV

Just when you think things can't get any worse Oliver shows up. I overheard Myrnin's conversation with Amelie. After a quick argument about how irresponsible Myrnin had been and what the consequences could be, I heard her say that me, Eve and Shane had to go after Claire with Oliver. Amelie decided that Myrnin couldn't go because he had caused enough trouble as it was. Yeah she had got that right. Oliver came straight to me. "Well no time to talk, get some blood and cloths to shield yourself from the sun. We need to find her as soon as possible."

It wasn't long before we were in the car ready to go after Claire, Myrnin had already gone back to his lab sulking. The thing that worried me was that the sun was due to rise soon and Claire had no protection from it what so ever since she didn't have tinted windows on the car. To be honest I had no idea how we were going to find her. I just hoped Oliver had any kind of planned on his mind. "Ok Oliver, what's the plan?"

"Right now we just need to get out of town and we are wasting more time every second so do shut up for now." That was all I got in replied.

He was right, at this moment in time every second counted for Claire's sake but it took hardly anytime to get to the town borders anyway since Oliver more or less broke every driving law that existed. So we were passing Morganville's farewell sign, the sign that told us we were passing into new territory not meant for us.


	4. Chapter 4

Michael's POV

We were driving a vampire standard car outside of Morganville, with windows the rest of the world couldn't even see through so yes we were breaking the law but considering the next four hours of the road ran through the desert which was almost unpopulated by people, the likelihood of us running into a cop was slim. We just had to hope we caught up with Claire before those four hours were up. The problem was we didn't know where Claire could have gone and we didn't know how she was going to avoid the sun which was due very soon.

"Ok Oliver we don't have long so do you have any idea where she could have gone because I sure don't." I again began to question him.

He barely looked at me when he replied. "Actually I do have an idea. You see even though Claire's too panicked to think straight I am sure that she is smart enough to realise she will be unable to keep on driving once the sun is up. Therefore I believe she will have made the decision to stay somewhere during the day."

"Like a motel?"

"Yes exactly like a motel and since there are only two in the area she could have gotten to by now I'm pretty confident we will found her."

"Well sounds like this is going to be simpler than I thought."

"Of course not. She's knew to being a vampire and doesn't understand it, she's very hungry and scared and the last thing she wants is the face you and go back to Morganville. So the easy part is catching up to her, the hard part is actually catching her and calming her down."

"Oh yeah."

Shane's POV

I could see what was going to happen while I sat in the car, Claire running for it when she saw us, or me catching her as she attacks someone out of sheer hunger, or simply us founding her lying in a motel room dying or even dead, because she was scared of what she was and couldn't face it. It would be my fault, it's my fault she ran. If I hadn't been so nasty to Michael when he became a vamp she would be Ok.

The sun was starting to appear over the horizon after a while so I was guessing by now Claire was in a motel. We had two to check, both of them were just randomly place in the middle of no way. Just like Morganville. I noticed Eve hadn't said much since this whole crap started, but I guessed that when you're too upset to stop crying you can't really can you. It would kill Eve if something bad happened, hell it would kill us all. Except Oliver, he only cared about himself anyway.

Michael's POV

Just when I think I can't take just sitting around waiting for bad news we saw a building appear ahead of us as the car continued to roll on. Oliver confirmed it to be the first motel. When we were close to the motels car park and I was ready to jump out of the car Oliver stopped me and said. "No wait. We don't have time to all check here, we have to split up. I will check this motel and you three will drive on to the next, I will get Amelie to send me a car and I will join you as soon as possible if she isn't here." Oliver then jumped out the car before turning back to me to say. "And Michael, you will have to be the one to stop her, if Eve or Shane try to she could hurt them. Do whatever you must to get her, tackle her to the floor I don't care just get some blood down her throat and talk some sense into her."

I nodded and moved seats to take the wheel. "Ok."

Oliver disappeared towards the motel as I got the car rolling again. I didn't need to know where the motel was, I just knew that if I kept driving straight down the road it would show up after a few miles or so. Until then the three of us could only hope everything went Ok.

I was right, after about twenty minutes I saw the motel become visible at the side of the road ahead. Just as I saw it my phone began to buzz. It was Oliver calling me. "Hello?"

"Michael, she's not here, she must be at the motel your heading to. Are you nearly there yet?"

"Yes its right in front of us."

"Ok hurry then. Find her quick and don't screw this up."

"Ok Oliver thanks for your encouragement, bye." I put the phone down and concentrated on what was ahead. When we pulled into the motel and parked up the car Shane turned to me and said. "Ok so I'm guessing by that conversation she is here right?"

"Yes she must be."

"Ok so how are we going to do this?"

"Well the last think we want to do is scare the hell out of her so I suggest we go to the main desk, ask for her room key and go talk to her, but remember what Oliver said, she will be out of control so stay back and leave this to me, Ok?"

Both Shane and Eve sighed and said. "Ok."

We got out of the car after I put on some heavy protection clothing -since the sun was fully out and shining now- and handed Shane some blood bags for Claire. When we got in the office we saw a little old lady sitting behind the counter, she smiled when she saw us. "Good morning kids, you looking for a room?"

"Er no ma'am, we are actually looking for a girl. She's a little younger than us, brown hair and quite small. We were hoping you might have seen her."

"Hmm well a girl at that description came in here in need of a room a little over half an hour ago." She replied. "She looked a mess so I gave her a room at the price she could pay."

"Oh great, could we please have a key to her room we really need to talk to her."

"Aw you know I can't just be giving anyone keys to people's rooms now don't you. I don't want to endanger anyone's safety, for all I know you're the reason she is in such a mess."

"Please we are her friends, you see she has run away from home and we are here to convince to come home ma'am." What I was saying was technically true.

"Hmm well, I guess I can't argue with that. Can't have it on my conscience knowing I let a young run away pass through so here you go boy." She handed me a key from under the desk. "She's in room seven right around the back but if I here something funny going on I will be there in a flash with my shotgun you hear."

"Yes ma'am." I replied. "Thanks."


	5. Chapter 5

Shane's POV

I was so scared when we were walking round the back of the building where the old lady told us Claire would be. That's another reason I hoped this would go smoothly, I didn't really like the idea of that women coming round with a shotgun. She didn't seem like the type who would be afraid to use it. But that was really the least of my worries. What was mainly on my mind was what I would find when we opened the door to the number seven motel room. When we got to the door we realised that it was pretty far away from the office so unless someone screamed really loud the old lady probably wouldn't hear a thing anyway.

Michael quietly unlocked the door, put the key in his pocket and put his handle on the door handle ready to open it. Just before he did he turned back and said. "Remember what I said, stay back."

"Yeah, yeah we get it Ok." Eve snapped. She was obviously getting fed up now. I was pretty surprised to here her talk to be honest. After a quick nod to us Michael opened the door and we all stepped inside and boy was I shocked by what we found.

Heartbroken is a better word to describe it actually because it was Claire who we found alright and she looked bad, real bad. She was laid on the bed asleep, her face red and puffy from endless crying and blood was slowly dripping from her nose. Just as we had walked in she suddenly rolled on her side, curled up and started coughing into the pillow. As she coughed blood sprayed out of her mouth. Then she started crying in pain while she slept and started calling something out that I didn't quite understand at first. "What did she say?"

"I'm not sure." Eve said back while shaking her head. "But it sounded like-"

"Sh-sh-Shane." Claire spoke again. This time I heard her. I automatically started walking over to her to comfort her but Michael held his arm out to stop me and shook his head.

"No man, look at her. She is minutes away from dying if she doesn't get any blood soon. If she gets one smell of you she will probably lose it."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for? We have to help her now."

Michael nodded then took a deep breath before calling out in a gentle voice. "Claire, wake up."

Immediate Claire flashed up in a sitting position to stare directly at Michael with wide eyes. She more or less looked horrified. Then she looked at me and Eve and the second she had realised we were there too she covered her nose with her hand. "You can't be here. I left so you didn't have to see this. Please just leave I'm fine Ok just- oh god please go I can't do this!" She started crying franticly and my instincts told me to go over to her and hug her but Michael was still holding me back. Michael tried to talk to her to calm her down. "Claire, Claire. You need to calm down Ok and let us help you. You need blood now."

"No I don't I'm fine."

"Claire! Look at yourself you're a mess! We can help you Ok."

"No you can't, I have to do this on my own."

"Tell me why that is Claire."

"Because-because I don't want to hurt any of you. And I know that you will all hate me being like this and I don't think I can live knowing that and you know what. I- I can't do this anymore because I don't want to be a vampire Michael, I never did and I just don't know what else to do. Pl-please don't hate me." Her eyes looked towards the open door and I knew exactly what she was going to do. Apparently so did Michael.

As Claire flashed off the bed and towards the door Michael jumped in front of her to stop her from doing what she was about to do, but she managed to knock him slightly out of the way. Enough to get past him and run outside. Straight into the sun.


	6. Chapter 6

Michael's POV

I knew what she was going to do when she looked at the door, that she would run straight into the sun. I was pretty sure I would be able to stop her but as I jumped in the way she actually managed to knock me out of the way enough so that she could get past me. Then there she was, trying to run as she burned, letting out little screams of pain immediately.

"Claire, no!" I heard Shane practically screaming for her to stop.

I didn't hesitate for a second, I ran straight after her. Luckily because she was so weak she wasn't as fast as she should have been and no way in hell was she as fast as me. Without any effort I caught up with her, but the second I did she suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground as her skin began to turn black. She screamed out in pain, right then the last thing that mattered was me so I took off the long coat I was wearing as protection and wrapped it around Claire's small body. As I began to pick her up to take her back inside she whispered to me. "Please don't Michael, I can't live with you guys ha-"

I was annoyed with her thinking we hated her. "God Claire we don't hate you. Now shh we are going to help you, it will be alright."

She looked into my eyes to see if she could tell if I was saying was the truth. She must have seen something because a weak smile spread across her face. Just when I thought things were looking a little brighter the smile suddenly disappeared and her body began to spasm for a second before going completely limp in my arms. "Claire? Claire! Oh my God. Shane get out those blood bags now!"

Shane's POV

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. First Claire began to spasm as Michael was carrying her back inside and then she just went still, like she was... dead. I got the blood bags out of my pockets as Michael rushed in and laid Claire down on the bed. Eve broke down the second she saw her. She collapsed to the floor next to her and took her hand. "Clairebear honey, please wake up we need you." She begged as she squeezed the hand she held, probably hoping for some kind of response. She didn't get one.

After throwing the blood bags to Michael I ran to Claire's side too and joined in the begging. "Claire baby you can't leave me I love you so much."

"Damn! Come on Claire drink the blood." Michael was practically shouting at her as he tried to force the blood down her throat. Every time he tried putting it in her mouth nothing happened, still didn't move the slightest. He kept trying while me and Eve kept begging.

Eve was shaking Claire's hand frantically now. "Come on Claire take the blood, you can't leave us. Not now, not ever."

Suddenly Michael fell back in defeat. "What the hell do you think your doing Michael? We can't give up on her!" I yelled at him.

"She's too far gone Shane, her body won't accept that stuff now she needs-"He suddenly cut off as he saw me run things through in my head. Because something clicked in my head. Claire was too badly hurt for that bagged up crap. She needed blood that was fresh, straight from the body. And I knew exactly where to get it from.

Michael of course you exactly what I was thinking and didn't like it. "No Shane, you can't. She's too weak to control herself she could hurt you."

"Hey! It's my fault this happened to her and she is my Claire like Eve said fangs or no fangs. And you know what, she can hurt me as much as she has to if it will save her life. Plus I trust her but if she does lose a little control which wouldn't be her fault then pull her off me, simple. End of conversation."

Michael was pretty much speechless, he had nothing to say to that what's so ever because he knew it was the only way to save her. So when I knew Michael was done arguing I sat on the bed next to Claire and pulled her into my arms. Then when her head was resting against my shoulder I gently lifted it until it was burrowed into my neck. I shut my eyes as I whispered. "Come on Claire." Suddenly I felt her move slightly as she must have smelt the blood that was now pulsing right next to her face. Her head tilted slightly and I felt her mouth open around my neck. I sighed in both relief and slight pain as her fangs came down and punctured my skin and artery. It actually felt kind of good. Her lips pressed around the bite as she sucked the blood gently from the wound. I heard Claire let out a slight whimper as she put her arm around my neck to grip me in place. Soon I was starting to feel a dizzy and a little disconnected from the world around me, but the only thing on my mind was the girl I held in my arms as she drank from my neck.

Claire suddenly let go and fell back in my arms, she opened her eyes and looked at me and her eyes widened in shock. Obviously disgusted by the fact she had just bit down on her boyfriend. I wasn't going to let her get upset again. No way. Before she could freak out again I leant down and pressed my lips to hers, not bothered by the fact there was still some of my blood on her mouth. "I love you."I whispered against her lips. I kissed her long and sweet for quite a while. When I finally broke the kiss I looked up to see Michael staring at Claire. "What?" She asked him warily.

"How the hell did you do that? How did you stop yourself from drinking from him?"

"Erm... No idea I guess."

"Wow. I never would have been able to do that in the early days."

We all laughed together. Just then Oliver came storming in ready for action. We all just looked at him before laughing again. Oliver wasn't too happy. "Do you understand how much trouble you have caused Claire?"

She looked at him and said simply. "Yes."

"Well just so you know I could so kill you right now. Oh and by the way, being a vampire is irreversible so I suggest you stop being so dramatic and get over it." Typical comment for him I guess.

Claire looked at me, Eve and Michael and smiled before saying. "You know what Oliver? I think I will."


	7. Chapter 7

**1 week later**

Shane's POV

It had been a while since we had got Claire back to Morganville. I thought she was fine with everything after what happened at the motel. Fine with what we thought, fine with it herself. But she suddenly started to distance herself from me, even flinched away from my touch sometimes like she was scared. I didn't understand.

Claire's POV

I knew what Shane was probably thinking. Either he thought I was still upset about what he thought of me or I simply didn't love him anymore. Neither of which were the case. I was afraid of myself. Since Shane had actually allowed me to drink from him in order to save my life-which still upsets me, the fact that I bit him- I couldn't stop thinking about it, the taste of his blood was always on my mind. Nobody else's blood scent bothered me, just Shane's. Every time he came near me I would smell it, my fangs would flash down and the urge to bite him again was almost too strong to resist. I was avoiding him because I didn't want to hurt him.

I had been so sly about my struggle with self control that no one suspected a thing. I never let Eve, Michael or Shane see my fangs appear at Shane's approach. I never let it slip that Shane was driving me crazy. But it was getting harder every second to hide my weakness.

Another morning had come and I knew another day of keeping to myself and living in secret had come, I was still unsure whether I could manage to get through it. When I walked into the kitchen of the Glass House I found Michael and Shane there. The second I saw Shane I knew he was going to see if I was still avoiding him when he came over to me.

"Morning baby, did you have a nice sleep?" He tried to hug me but I knew having my face so close to his neck would probably cause me to snap so I put my hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back slightly, turning my head to the side. Like always he looked hurt, which hurt me just as much. "What's wrong? What did I do?"

"Nothing, I'm just a little thirsty that's all. Michael could you pass me some blood from the fridge, please?"

"Sure thing." Michael grabbed a sports bottle from the fridge and threw it to me. I noticed he was frowning at me, like he was trying to figure something out.

Shane sighed and walked away as I drank from the bottle. I wasn't even thirsty really but my body still demanded Shane's blood, thirsty or not.

I realised Michael was getting suspicious when he said to Shane. "I think it's mine and Claire's turn to make breakfast. Why don't you go in the living room and chill?"

Shane was too upset to wonder what Michael was up to. "Yeah, whatever." He walked out with his shoulders slumped.

Michael didn't say a word at first, we just worked in silence getting breakfast going. However, the second everything was cooking on the oven rings and all we could do was wait he turned to me. "Ok, what's going on between you and Shane?"

I looked at him innocently. "What do you mean?"

"C'mon, don't pull that crap with me Claire. You have been pushing him away since we got back here from that motel. Are you going to dump him?"

"No! Of course not!" Truthfully, I had thought about it. Thought that if I ended everything between us he would be safe from me. In the end though, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I loved him too much.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Nothing! I'm not pushing him away. I'm just trying to get used to everything."

"You could get used to things better with him-"

Just as he spoke Shane came in, hands in pockets and head down. He looked at me for a second and I saw a tear drop surface in the corner of his eye just as he looked back to the floor. He walked to the fridge, grabbed a coke and opened it absent-mindedly before heading back towards the door as I began to stir a pan of beans. Just as he was behind me, Michael –who was stood at the opposite side of the kitchens island to me- stopped him. "Hey man, could you pass me those plates over there, please?"

"Yeah, sure." Shane put is coke down and to grab a small stack of non matching plates from the corner. He walked over to stand beside me so he could lean over the island to pass them to Michael. The worst thing happened. As he stretched his arm over it grazed right by my face, his wrist was soon inches away from my nose. I wasn't prepared for it to happen and I lost it. My fangs slid down, the points showing slightly from under my lip, and I made to attack him. As I was about to lunge my mind began screaming. _No! Don't, it's Shane!_

I managed to force out enough control to stop myself, but is wrist was still there, fighting against it. As my eyes went wide in sheer horror I flashed across the room, slamming myself into the wall in the corner and huddling in on myself, holding my nose. From the corner of my eye I saw Shane start to run over to me, clearly he hadn't realised what had just happened. Michael stopped him though, holding his arm to block his way. Shane didn't like it at all. "What the fuck, man. Get out of my way I need to see what's wrong."

"Dude, don't you see? You're what's wrong."

"What the-"

I whimpered as they argued because Shane's scent still lingered in my nose. Both Michael and Shane stared at me, Michael in sympathy and Shane in confusion. "She ran when you moved your arm near her face."

I saw something click in Shane's face. He looked really upset.

Michael moved slowly towards me before kneeling down in front of me. "What was that Claire?" I knew he probably knew everything for himself now, he just wanted to here it from me. But I didn't want to admit anything.

"Nothing. I'm thirsty that's all."

"No you're not. You fed less than five minutes ago, Claire."

"I must not have had enough."

"It's Shane isn't it?"

"No."

"Yes it is. It's his blood, you can't cope with it, can you? That's why you've been pushing him away."

"No."

He sighed, knowing he was going to have to get proof. He went and grabbed a sports bottle from the fridge and came back with it, kneeling again. He then motioned for Shane to come forward, who came over and knelt down beside Michael, watching me the whole time. Michael opened the sports bottle and held it out, waving it under my nose. Its scent filled my nose, but it didn't bother me what's so ever. He then took hold of Shane's wrist and held it out to me. Shane's scent also filled my nose again. This time it bothered me, more than ever.

I lunged for Shane without thinking but luckily Michael was ready for it. As I jumped up his hand hit me in the chest and because he was older and more experienced than me he soon had me pinned to the floor. Shane had moved away and stood up, I saw him staring at me in shock. I saw a look on his face and I guessed it was disgust.

Michael held me down calmly until I came to my senses. The second I gained control again I just broke down, not even attempting to get up off the floor. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I sobbed as Michael let me go, realising I was back to my normal self.

"Nothing is wrong with you Claire."

"Nothing, are you kidding me? There is no other vamp in town with this issue. I'm just weak."

"Claire, I'm pretty sure this is because of what happened at the motel. You hadn't had any blood at all and all of a sudden you take a lot of Shane's blood. You're not meant to do it like that. It's overwhelmed you."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Wait here, I'll call Amelie Ok?"

"Ok."

Michael was gone from the room, leaving me and Shane alone. I watched him tearfully, waiting for him to either yell at me or walk out not wanting to look at me. But, to my total surprise, he tried to come towards me. "Claire, I am so sorry. I should have realised."

I held my hand out to stop him from coming too close. "Stay back Shane, please. I don't want to hurt you."


	8. Chapter 8

Michael's POV

It was one thing I had never seen before, a vampire having an uncontrollable craving for one particular person's blood. The only thing that could have caused it was what happened in the motel, there was nothing else to blame it on. I knew for Claire and Shane's sake we would have to find a way to get rid of her need for his blood. I went straight for the phone to call Amelie. Dialling the number I waited, she finally answered on the third ring. "Hello? Who would I be speaking to?"

"Amelie, its Michael. I- we need your help."

"Explain please, I am rather busy."

"It's Claire, she seems to lose it when Shane comes near her. She can't help trying to bite him."

I heard a sigh on the other end. "Yes, Oliver told me what happened out of town. I was afraid this would happen. Mr Collins shouldn't have done what he did, but I understand there was no other way to save her."

"So, you are saying this has happened before?"

"Once, a very long time ago. I know that giving a new vampire a lot fresh blood after being starved is like dosing it on very addictive drugs. Once the deed is done, they need more and more."

"So what do we do?"

"We found that a sort of rehabilitation is the only way to rid the craving. You will have to wean her of the need."

"You mean like-"

"Yes Michael, you will have to give Claire Shane's blood. Give her less and less each day until she goes off of it completely. I'm sorry but there is no other way. I must go now." Before I could protest the line went dead.

This was not going to go well.

Claire's POV

I didn't move from the floor the whole time I waited, I didn't let Shane take another step near me either. Finally Michael did return, he didn't look too optimistic. Looked like he had gotten no help from Amelie what so ever. "So? Did she help or what?"

"She told me what we need to do."

"What do I need to do? I'll do anything, please."

"She said we have to wean you off of Shane's blood by giving you less and less each day till you don't need it." _Anything but that._

My eyes went wide with horror as I looked at Shane, his expression was unreadable. I imagined he was either horrified like me or just sickened.

I shook my head. "No, I will never do that, I can't. I will have to try something else."

"Amelie said that's the only thing that will work."

"But- I can't- its wrong- I won't."

"I will." My eyes flashed to Shane, not sure whether I was hearing things. That was definitely his voice I heard. He now looked calm, like he was fine with it. I certainly wasn't. Shane came to come to me but I couldn't do what they wanted me to do. "No."

I rose to my feet in one fluent movement and bolted out of the kitchen and up to my room. Slamming the door shut I slid down it shaking. I honestly didn't know what to do. After a while I crawled across the floor to sit with my back resting against my bed. Michael said that was all I could do, that I had to do it. But I couldn't do that to Shane.

A moment later I heard three quiet knocks on my door and I knew it was Shane. "Can I come in please?"

"No." I didn't want him near me for his own sake.

"Please, Claire."

I didn't reply, just carried on panicking on the floor. I should have replied, because I didn't Shane opened the door and walked it, shutting it behind him. He saw me shaking and started to run over to me, he got halfway before I held up my hand again. "Don't." He slowed down his approach but he didn't stop.

"Claire-"

"Don't Ok, I'm not doing that, no way."

"You heard Michael, he said there is no other way."

"But I can't do that to you Shane, I just can't."

"Claire, it's Ok, I'm fine with it. If it will help you then I don't mind." He sounded completely sincere.

"But I can't."

"Ok, then what will you do?"

"I- I will leave." It seemed the only safe thing to do.

"Why?"

"Because it's the only thing that I can do where I won't have to hurt you."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. I'm not letting you leave. I've already almost lost you once and I'm not going to lose you again. It's my fault this is happening, I fed you my blood so I'm going to put it right."

He walked straight up to me despite my protests and lifted me off the floor to sit me on the bed. He sat beside me and without hesitation he began to hold up his wrist. I leaned away as I stared at him in shock but he put his other arm around me and held me close. Slowly he started to move his expose wrist towards my face. I shook my head frantically, trying to get him to stop.

"C'mon Claire, it's Ok. Just drink it."

"I can't, what if I can't stop?"

"I promise if you lose control I will pull you off myself. It will be fine."

"But-"

"Don't argue just- drink."

I couldn't argue, I didn't know what else I could say and Shane wasn't ever going to give up. I went quiet and he continued moving his wrist closer to me. When it was about ten inches from my face I hold my breath so I couldn't smell it. Shane noticed of course. "Breathe."

I shook my head.

"Come on, just take one breath."

I shook my head again as his wrist came to be just over an inch from my mouth. I was determined to hold it as long as it took.

Suddenly though, I felt Shane's lips press to my neck, causing my mouth to open and air to rush up my nose in surprise. And I took in his scent. And my resistance disappeared.

Straight away I took hold of Shane's arm and pulled it the rest of the way to my mouth as my fangs dropped down. My mouth opened over the veins and pressing down my fangs pierced through Shane's skin. The wounds released the tangy substance I had desired for the past two weeks and my control vanished. His blood started to rush down my throat as I drank from him greedily, sucking strongly on the two punctures.

Soon I knew it was time I stopped, but I couldn't. Every second I gripped his arm even harder and kept on feeding from him. Finally Shane started to try and gently pull his arm away. "That's enough, let go."

_I can't. _I kept thinking desperately, I tried but nothing happened, I drank faster if anything. Then I felt Shane's lips press behind my ear before here whispered. "Claire, baby. Let me go please."

His words sank into me and made me gasp, releasing him straight away. I stared off with my mouth open and eyes wide in disgust at what had happened. Shane-ignoring the wound still dripping with blood- put his arms around me. "You see, I didn't even have to stop you. You did it yourself."

"Barely."

"You were fine. I love you."

Before I could respond he trailed a finger across my lips, wiping away a spot of his blood left behind before he pulled me onto his lap to kiss me.


	9. Chapter 9

_One minute, Claire is lying in her bed with Shane's arms wrapped around her, then the image completely distorted into something new. Shane was still lying in her bed but Claire was crouched down at the end of it, poised, ready to pounce. As her boyfriends irresistible scent lingered up her nose her eyes flashed red and her fangs slipped down. Then she lunged forward, landing on her prey's chest, pinning him down with her unnaturally strong arms and holding him still with her knees. As his eyes went wide with pure shock she smiled viciously at him before attacking, sinking her fangs into his neck as he struggled. As he begged and begged for her to let go she carried on drinking until his struggles grew weaker and weaker. Finally she let go, dropping his lifeless and drained body back down on the bed before walking away._

Claire's eyes opened and she flashed up in her bed, screaming in absolute horror.

Shane's POV

I was laid beside Claire with my arms wrapped around her small frame. She may be a vampire but to me she will always be fragile. As I stroked her hair she began to whimper slightly in her sleep. She began to twist around a little before she would hold on to my chest tighter as if she was scared to let me go. Then she started to call out as tears began to stream down her face. It was heartbreaking.

"No." She started shaking her head violently and thrashing a little as I tried to hold her still.

"No, Shane." As she called my name she snuggled her face into my chest before shouting out in fear. "Shane!"

Then she suddenly sat up so fast it was a blur and started screaming. Immediately I pulled her into my arms and rocked her, trying to calm her as she gasped for breath. "Ssshhh, it's Ok. It was just a dream."

As she started tearing up again she responded with the most scared voice I have heard from her. "But it could happen. It might happen and I'm so scared."

"What could happen? What did you see?" The fear in her eyes hurt me so much I wanted to cry with her but I knew I had to be strong, she was going through so much. "Tell me Claire, please."

"I can't."

"Please Claire, tell me what happened so I can help."

"You can't."

"Give me a chance to."

"I- I k... I killed you!" The second she cried out those three words she collapsed against me and sobbed helplessly into my chest.

I understood now, she had seen her worst fear, she had seen herself bite me and not be able to stop herself. I knew that was never going to happen, but I also knew from past experiences that Claire's dreams were often really vivid, it probably seemed almost real to her.

"It was just a nightmare. It won't _ever _happen Claire, you hear me?"

"But it could, I struggled earlier. What if next time I completely lose it? Oh god I don't want to hurt you Shane." She kept on sobbing, still so sure she was going to kill me.

"Claire, listen to me. I promise you, that dream is not going to become reality. Do you understand?"

"But-"

"Ah ah ah, no buts, do you understand?"

She didn't reply this time but I felt her hair scrape my chin as she nodded. With my arms still around her I leaned back till we were both laid back down in the pillows, snuggled together. As Claire tried to calm her still panicked breathing we laid in silence for a while before Claire looked up into my eyes. "How is your wrist?"

I looked had the wound she was referring to, to the bite mark she had given me only a few hours before. It didn't look too bad, I'd wiped away the blood once it had dried up and now the only things left were the two small, slowly bruising punctures. "Fine, absolutely fine."

"I'm so sorry, Shane."

"Don't be." I kissed the top of her head before continuing. "Now, I think its time we got some sleep."

"Ok, I love you."

"I love you more."

"Whatever."


End file.
